Amos

Amos 2 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Amos 2 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment

1 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:

God says there are three or four reasons for him to punish Moab. But he only mentions one: "because he burned the bones of the king of Edom." So God burned Moab because they burned some bones.

The transgressions are not mentioned by Amos only, but were well-known. The second is idolatry, they served Chemosh (Jer. 48:7) and Baalpeor (Hos. 9:10). The third is that they sent for Balaam to curse the Israelites (Jos. 24:9). The fourth is their oppression of Israel in the times of the judges, see Jg. 3:14.
On the “burning of some bones,” what actually seems to have happened is that the king of Moab took the dead body of the king of Edom, and burned his bones to powder, and plastered his palace with it (either portions, or mixed it with lime).

2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet:

(2:2, 5) "I will send a fire upon" Moab and Judah.
The divine pyromaniac threatens to "send fire unto" Moab.

As punishment for their sins.

3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

"I ... will slay all the princes."
God will "slay all the princes" of Moab.

As punishment for their sins, and so it has happened.

4 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:

5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

"A man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name."

If the bar for foul language was only this low! But it is a foul deed, and an act of incest, as John Gill writes:

[they] will be guilty of such uncleanness, as not only to have and enjoy the same harlot, but of such incest, as that the son would lie with his father's wife, and the father lie with his son's wife.

8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

9 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.

Giants!
God destroyed the Amorites who were a race of giants as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks.

This verse refers to a past event, namely that the Lord drove out seven nations from Israel, of which the Amorites were the most important. And they had indeed children of Anak (Num. 13:28) among them. It is suprising how many details the Bible gives about these giants. We know the name of the father of Anak, Arba (Jos. 15:13), and the name of Anak's three children: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai (Jos. 15:14). We have photographs of people who approach the height of Goliath, see 1 Sam. 17:4, so it's not as if this is physically impossible. We even have a biological mechanism which triggers growth.
See also There Be Giants in the Earth.

10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

"I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness."
It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than ten days.

Entirely true, it's a journey of a few days. But there are two reasons for why it took 40 years: first they took a detour through the desert as the route along the coast was heavily fortified. But the last 39 years were spend in the desert as punishment for their unbelief: the adults had to die first, as only their children would inherit the land, Num. 14:35.

11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:

15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.

On the day of God's wrath, brave men "shall flee away naked."

Not literally, but this means that soldiers would strip themselves from their military garments as even the brave would flee.